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maandag 14 januari 2013

Robin Roberts said she is going to begin the process of returning to "Good Morning America." She expects to be back on the show by February.

During a live appearance on the ABC morning show Monday, Roberts said that the bone marrow transplant she underwent in September appeared to have been successful, and that her doctors have cleared her to begin easing back into her co-anchor job.

Roberts had to undergo the procedure after she was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. She left the show in August.

Roberts compared returning to the show after her months-long absence to athletes returning from the disabled list and gingerly reacquainting themselves to life on the field.

"Part of the process of reentry is I got up at 4 a.m. this morning," Roberts said. "That's one thing I have not missed is that alarm clock."

Next week, Roberts will begin making the trek into "Good Morning America's" Times Square home. She will go through her usual routine, getting makeup and testing her body's response to harsh television lighting. However, she said she will not go on the air until she is certain she won't suffer a medical setback.

"Now I have a date in mind that's very personal and very important to me, but I will ultimately listen to, of course, what my doctors say and, course, we have to remember we're in the height of flu season," Roberts said. "There's a lot of factors still."

ABC boss Paul Lee is putting live-action Star Wars series under consideration following the Disney/LucasFilm deal...

The news of LucasFilm producer Rick McCallum's retirement following the Disney buy left yet another question mark dangling over the long-planned live-action Star Wars TV series. After overseeing three and a half years of work and fifty hours of scripts for the show, what did McCallum's exit mean for its future?

After that kind of investment, it was unlikely that Disney would leave the project in stasis for long, and now ABC President Paul Lee has confirmed that the live-action series is "definitely going to be part of the conversation" between the Disney subsidiary network and LucasFilm:

"We’d love to do something with Lucasfilm, we’re not sure what yet [...] It’s going to be very much up to the Lucasfilm brands how they want to play it. We got to a point here with Marvel, a very special point, where we’re in the Marvel universe, and very relevantly so, but we’re not doing The Avengers. But S.H.I.E.L.D. is part of The Avengers. So maybe something oblique is the way to [approach the Star Wars universe] rather than going straight head-on at it."

Speaking of The Avengers and its relationship to S.H.I.E.L.D., one fly in the ointment for the Star Wars series is of course the forthcoming 2015 film. Brands have historically been reluctant to allow big and small screen versions of a franchise to play simultaneously, as seen when Warner Bros. shut down any talk of Batman TV projects while The Dark Knight trilogy was in production. Would ABC's "something oblique" approach solution tally with McCallum's vision of the live-action Star Wars show?

EW reports that the live-action series as overseen by McCallum takes place between the original film trilogy and the prequels, may have a bounty hunter as its lead, and focuses on "rival families struggling over the control of the seedy underside of the Star Wars universe and the people who live within the subterranean level and air shafts of the metropolis planet Corsucant (the Empire's urban-sprawl-covered home planet)". While allowing for the appearance of characters from the film trilogies, we'd call that a fairly sideways take on the franchise.

When we spoke to McCallum last summer, he explained that the series' impasse was down to the cost of production, which he estimated at between $5-$6 million per episode. Describing the show as a kind of "Deadwood in space" which wasn't targeting 8-to-9 year old boys, McCallum spoke of his reluctance to relinquish the creative control a cable network would require for such an expensive project, or to be burdened by a 42-minute episode length should the series go down the commercial network route. Those decisions, for better or for worse, are now out of his hands.

With Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosting the Golden Globes, hopes were high for a funny show -- and the former "Saturday Night Live" cohorts delivered.

But Fey and Poehler weren't the only ones to nail punchlines during Sunday's Golden Globes. And Jodie Foster delivered unexpected drama by addresssing her sexuality more directly than she ever has before -- and joking that she defends her privacy because "I am not Honey Boo Boo Child."

Here are the Top 10 Golden Globes Moments, in the order they occurred:

10. Tina Fey addresses the elephant in the room -- whether she and Poehler will be as aggressive as three-time host Ricky Gervais. "Ricky Gervais could not be here tonight, because he is no longer technically in show business," she jokes. Poehler later adds of Gervais: "When you run afoul of the Hollywood Foreign Press, they make you host two more times."

9. Amy Poehler proves herself the attack dog of the duo, praising "Zero Dark Thirty" director Kathryn Bigelow: "I haven't really been following the controversy over 'Zero Dark Thirty,' but when it comes to torture, I trust a lady who spent three years married to James Cameron."

8. Fey cracks that Ben Affleck set his first two movies in Boston, but set his third in Iran "because he wanted to film somewhere that was more friendly to outsiders."

7. Fey gets off a major zinger as she praises Anne Hathaway on a solo performance in "Les Miserables": "I have not seen someone so totally abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars."

Also read: Golden Globes 2013: Red Carpet Arrivals (Photos)

6. Adele, who won Best Original Song for the "Skyfall" theme, is perhaps a little too honest: "Thanks for having us into your world, we've been pissing ourselves laughing all night."

Den of Geek didn’t vote for its favourite TV episodes of 2011, but if we had, one of Black Mirror’s three ninety-minute stories would almost certainly have made it into the top ten. Satirical, daring, and often savage, Charlie Brooker’s skewed look at the futures modern technology could create was a rare and to-be-celebrated thing: genuinely exciting original UK drama programming.

Series one comprised three discrete ninety-minute stories: a performance artist blackmails the Prime Minister to perform an humiliating, horrific act live on television; a Cowell-esque talent show is the only path to social mobility in a dystopian, unequal future; a mind implant records our every memory.

Black Mirror returns to Channel 4 “quite soon. Weeks rather than months” according to writer/creator Brooker, with three brand new stories. The first, Be Right Back, stars Dredd and Never Let Me Go’s Domhnall Gleeson. The second, The Waldo Moment, involves a new app, a biohazard threat, and features Christina Chong (whom you might recognise as Doctor Who's Lorna Bucket in A Good Man Goes To War), while no details are yet known about the third, entitled White Bear.

Being Human returns this month with new villains, and new mythology. Here's Caroline's spoiler-free review of episode one...

Being Human returns this month for a series departed further from its original concept than ever before. We now have Tom, Hal and Alex (Michael Socha, Damien Molony and Kate Bracken) forming our supernatural triangle instead of Mitchell, George, and Annie (Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey and Lenora Crichlow) and the show doesn’t seem the least bit concerned with treading over old ground. Judging by this first episode, series five is going to forge its own distinct path, leaving the simple pleasures of a ghost, a werewolf, and a vampire trying to forge normal lives together far, far behind. Annie is barely mentioned, though Eve’s memory still plagues her surrogate dad’s, and the lack of nostalgia is probably a smart move.

This might be a concern for those fans who weren’t completely won over by last year’s semi-reboot. Things definitely aren’t going to get smaller, for example, as new villains and a grand new mythology are set up in this premiere that will likely dominate the entire series (and possibly future episodes, too). There’s no looking back, only forward, and those seeking a back-to-basics fifth year need not apply. This is essentially a brand new show after last year’s in-between series, and the new trio are allowed space to build their own chemistry and dynamic without the memory of old housemates hanging over them.

Hal and Tom still have their comedic double-act going for them, and the brilliantly bonkers friendship between them hasn’t gone anywhere. Fans of the duo's cafe banter won't be disappointed, despite there having been something of a shake-up in the workplace. This is comforting right off the bat simply because a lot of viewers require a crumb of familiarity when going into this almost completely uprooted series.

Michael Socha and Damien Malony are amazing finds that bring back the comedic element of Being Human somewhat lost after the first series, and new girl Kate Bracken complements the already-established dynamic beautifully. Alex is as charming and ballsy as you remember, as well as refreshing in her vast difference from Annie’s character.

When we first revisit Honolulu Heights, the show hits us with a great comedy skit right away and the episode strikes a tone of serious and gruesome vs. witty and irreverent better than it’s done in a while. That said, the hour is only as entertaining and compelling as any episode of series four, and it's too early to tell whether this incarnation of Being Human can scale its previous heights.

Addressing the threats imposed on the group this year, they’re going to have their hands full. Some shadowy characters from the last series are back, though we don’t know for how long, and it seems the town of Barry has become the home of a bigger than usual big bad. The apocalyptic danger and vast mythology introduced in the episode is leagues from where the series began, making this period of adjustment a little jarring for longtime fans.

If you haven’t already jumped on the bandwagon, this would be the perfect time to pick up Being Human. Old fans of the series may decide to jump ship, but that doesn’t mean that others more disposed to the show as it is now can’t replace them.

Overall, this is a solid first episode of a series with a fantastic central cast that doesn’t let you miss the old residents of Honolulu Heights. You’ll be appropriately intrigued to see what happens with the supernatural factions that have been moved chess-style into their various positions, and might be just as happy spending time with Tom, Hal and Alex, drinking tea and watching telly. After all, isn't that what Being Human is all about?

The companies announced in November that Viggle Inc. had purchased GetGlue for $25 million in cash and 48.3 million shares in stock, with the goal of making the merged companies the dominate force in social TV. Together, the two companies would have had more than 4 million users, more than 3 million of them from GetGlue.

But GetGlue founder Alex Iskold said in a blog post Sunday that his company had changed its plans.

"Today we’ve decided that GetGlue will not be merging with Viggle. The two companies remain friendly and think highly of each other," he wrote. "We are moving forward as an independent company, and all of us at GetGlue are excited about growing our social network and the leadership position on the second screen."

He added that GetGlue has "a strong product and partnership pipeline for 2013," and plans to continue working with networks, studios and brands.

New York City-based GetGlue, founded in 2007, enables users to tell friends what they're watching, track their favorite shows, and find videos, images, and links.

Viggle has 1.2 million registered users who receive points for loyalty and engagement. They can redeem points from businesses including Best Buy, Amazon, Fandango, Hulu Plus and iTunes.

Celebrity Big Brother contestant Lacey Banghard is bookmakers' favourite to be evicted from the house this Wednesday (January 16).

The glamour model will be voted out over show villains Heidi and Spencer Pratt, Rylan Clark and Claire Richards according to Ladbrokes, who have given her odds of 4/6.

Steps singer Richards is the next most likely to be evicted with odds of 9/4, while Speidi and Clark are outsiders at 4/1 and 25/1 respectively.

William Hill have also named Banghard as the 8/13 favourite for eviction, reasoning that she is "too nice to stay" in the "feisty" Big Brother house.

"The house has sparked into action with the events of recent days and it seems the only person who is not getting involved is Lacey," a William Hill spokesperson said. "It may be her inactivity that causes her to get the boot."

Banghard and the Pratts were nominated for eviction by their fellow housemates yesterday (January 13), while Richards and Clark were chosen by Speidi upon returning from their secret stay in the luxury basement on Friday (January 11), sparking a number of explosive arguments.

CW president Mark Pedowitz said the network will not move forwward on "Battle Royale," a drama about junior high students forced to kill each other that the network once explored developing. He also talked about the network's high hopes for a considerably cheerier series, the "Sex and the City" prequel "The Carrie Diaries," and his continued disappointment with Nielsen tracking.

Pedowitz spoke at a Television Critics Association panel Sunday, where he also said "Supernatural" has a "good shot" at returning for a ninth season. And he described the network's exploration of a "Vampire Diaries" spinoff that would focus on the original vampires.

Pedowitz was pressed on whether the network would pursue "Battle Royale," based on a "Hunger Games"-like Japanese novel and film, in light of recent mass killings. He said the network had only looked into whether the rights to the project were available, and that the project had gone no further than that.

Another "Hunger Games"-like project, however, remains in play at the network. The CW passed over "The Selection" last pilot season, but decided to continue developing it. A new version of the script was recently completed, he said.

The project, based on a planned series of young adult novels, follows a young woman who competes with others for the affections of a prince in a war-torn future.

The CW, which has targeted young women 18-34 for most of its six years, has tried to expand its audience under Pedowitz's leadership. This fall, the show increased its total viewers by about 10 percent, even as it remained roughly flat in the 18-34 demographic and the 18-49 demo most important to advertisers.

But "The Carrie Diaries," which debuts Monday, may help the network make inroads with both older and younger audiences. As Pedowitz explained, the show targets younger viewers because its protagonist, Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb), is 16. But it may also appeal to people who remember its 1984 setting.

The CW has long argued that its viewership isn't properly reflected in Nielsen numbers because so many viewers watch the show online. On Sunday, Pedowitz said Nielsen "needs to technologically catch up" with current viewing patterns. He also said his network continues to try to develop its own way of tracking its viewership.

The comedy series will return later this year for a new six-part series and a Christmas special.

Created by writer/actor Jason Cook and loosely based on his own experiences, Hebburn stars Chris Ramsey as Jack, a lad from the North East who has secretly married his middle-class, Jewish girlfriend Sarah (Kimberley Nixon).

The first series concluded with the pair's second, sham wedding, which was interrupted when Jack's father Joe (Jim Moir) suffered a stroke.

"I'm obviously proper over the moon about the second series," said Cook. "Series one was so well received that we always had hopes of getting recommissioned but now it's real! Having a Christmas special really is the icing on the cake; I got quite giddy when I was told we'd got that."

Series two of Hebburn will enter production in the summer and will air in late 2013, with Ideal's Graham Duff again scripting the new episodes alongside Cook, Henry Normal and Lindsay Hughes of Baby Cow.

The '80s supermodel, who was evicted over the couple - nicknamed Speidi - in the first public vote last week, claimed that her former co-stars "don't backstab" and are "respectful" of other people.

"When they took Heidi and Spencer into the [basement]... they love being alone, they love snuggling up," she told ITV's Daybreak today (January 14).

"They're real, they're spiritual, they don't backstab, they're kind and they didn't kiss because no-one else had a partner and they're being respectful.

"So I can say that they are absolutely genuine, honest people and I can't wait to go and see them in Colorado."

Hamilton even named Speidi as one of her picks to win the show, along with Neil Ruddock and Rylan Clark.

Admitting that she had become "addicted" to Celebrity Big Brother since coming out, Hamilton said of her own stint in the show: "I had the best time in there... 75% of the time I was having a laugh, 25% of the time I was a bit 'miz'. You saw a lot of the 25%."

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series (Drama)
Connie Britton (Nashville)
Glenn Close (Damages)Claire Danes (Homeland) - WINNER
Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hayden Panettiere (Nashville)
Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)
Sarah Paulson (Game Change)Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) - WINNER
Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Max Greenfield (New Girl)Ed Harris (Game Change) - WINNER
Danny Huston (Magic City)
Mandy Patinkin (Homeland)
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)